Week 4: First Draft Due Date

This week, I have been working towards finishing up my first draft: Intro, Literature Review, and Method. This has consumed me all week until about 5 minutes ago from when I wrote this. Specifically, I expanded my literature review. I looked into the general criticisms of the current U.S. Operational Numerical Weather Prediction, and suggestions for improvement. I reviewed an article that, instead of explaining the drawbacks of Numerical Weather Prediction systems in general, specifically criticized that of the United States. The article mentioned that the systems in the United States were behind that of other places, such as the n European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast. The article gave recommendations on strengthening the NWP systems in a less artificial-intelligence-focused manner. The article also gave me more motivation to look into how other NWP models would work, giving me a less America-centric view.

This is one of many articles and papers I have read this week, although it was one that particularly caught my eye (although it did still contain a sizable amount of AI implementation suggestions). Overall, I’ve expanded my literature to a certain extent. Additionally, I looked into how my research would affect other fields, such as agriculture and aviation. Did you know that about 70–80% of year-to-year crop yield variability is influenced by weather? In addition, did you know that a single 1% improvement in weather forecast accuracy can save the aviation industry hundreds of millions of dollars per year? These facts emphasize the value of using AI to improve weather forecasting.